WASHINGTON - An independent watchdog agency investigating a congressional trip to Azerbaijan in 2013 concluded that the nation's state-owned oil company secretly funded the all-expenses paid trip and pricey gifts - including rugs worth as much as $3,500 and a six-piece crystal tea set - given to the 10 lawmakers who participated.

Four Texas representatives were among them, but is unclear exactly what gifts each of them received.

The findings of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) provide the most detailed account yet of the controversial energy conference in Baku, which has been referred to the Justice Department for review.

The House Ethics Committee cleared all the lawmakers of wrongdoing this summer, concluding that they had been misled about the identity of the true sponsors of a pair of Houston-based non-profits that arranged the travel.

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The two non-profits - the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians and the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan - are both closely associated with Kemal Oksuz, a central figure in the probe who has stayed largely out of sight and refused to talk to OCE investigators.

Oksuz also invoked his Fifth Amendment right in refusing to testify in the House probe.

The more extensive findings of the OCE, which has no enforcement power, were withheld by the House ethics panel in July. That prompted the OCE board to take the unusual step Wednesday of releasing the report on its own.

A spokesman for the House Ethic Committee declined comment on the OCE's move.

The 76-page report by the congressionally-chartered agency found evidence that the Azerbaijan oil company, which provided $750,000 to the Houston non-profits shortly before the trip, was intimately involved in the travel arrangements.

The report also found that all the lawmakers and staffers who attended the energy conference in Baku appear to have received expensive rugs and other high-end gifts that violate House rules and federal law.

One of the Texas lawmakers, Mercedes Democrat Ruben Hinojosa, publicly acknowledged this summer that he had received a large rug and several prayer rugs on the trip. He said he later turned to large rug over to the House Clerk's office, and donated the prayer rugs to charity.

Two others, Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee and Humble Republican Ted Poe, have ignored repeated requests from the Houston Chronicle and others to disclose any gifts they received and detail what they did with them.

Both also declined to cooperate with the OCE probe.

A fourth Texas participant, Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, has since retired from Congress and was not subject to the OCE and House investigations.

The OCE probe concluded that even though the lawmakers did not know the actual circumstances surrounding the sponsorship of their travel, there is still "substantial reason" to believe the trip was sponsored illegally by the state oil company, known by its initials, SOCAR. The same foreign entity and its associated non-profits are also believed to be behind gifts to lawmakers, including rugs worth as much as $3,500.

House rules prohibit accepting gifts of more than $50 in value, and undisclosed gifts from foreign governments of more than $350 would appear to violate federal law.

Though not all lawmakers received the same gifts, the report found that "all members and congressional staff who attended the convention appear to have been given rugs as gifts."

Moreover, the report concluded: "There is strong evidence to suggest that Members received additional gifts during the Baku Convention. While there may have been variations based on what meetings were attended by a given Member, as well as gender-based distinctions, some Members and congressional staff appear to have received: a six-piece crystal tea set, a silk scarf, a DVD-box set about the President of Azerbaijan, a briefcase, and a paperweight with stationery items."

Because Jackson Lee and Poe did not cooperate in the OCE inquiry, investigators said they were "unable to identify specific information" about gifts involving the two Texas lawmakers. But based on the agency's overall review of the trip, their report indicated there was "ample evidence" that both received gifts in Azerbaijan.

Poe reported his travel expenses at $12,960.60. Jackson Lee reported hers at $11,563. Hinojosa reported $8,805.90 in transportation costs for him and his wife.

In clearing the lawmakers of wrongdoing in July, the Ethics Committee released its own 28-page report saying it could not verify the true source behind the gifts. But it also directed lawmakers to return or dispose of them, even if it was two years after the trip.

In a simmering turf war, the House Ethics Committee also rebuked the OCE for continuing with its independent inquiry while Congress conducted its own investigation.

The OCE, which was created in 2008 to put more teeth into internal House ethics probes, typically investigates complaints against lawmakers and then turns its findings over to the House Ethics Committee, which then follows up on the independent agency's findings. But in the Azerbaijan case, lawmakers requested that the ethics panel begin its own investigation before the OCE had finished its work.

The OCE report turned out to be much more detailed and hard-hitting than the one released by the Ethics Committee.

The decision of the OCE board to release its own independent findings Wednesday followed calls on the Ethics Committee by a coalition of civic groups and academics to release the agency's report. That request was ignored by lawmakers.

The OCE report adds fuel to the congressional controversy that has long swirled around the trip to Azerbaijan, partly because it was cleared by the House Ethics Committee itself. Questions arose about the conference following a Houston Chronicle investigation looking into the connection between the Azerbaijan's state oil company and the two Houston non-profits tied to Oksuz.

While the House Ethics Committee dismissed the case, congressional investigators said they would refer the matter to the Justice Department to determine whether "third parties" involved in arranging the lawmakers' travel engaged in a "criminal conspiracy to lie to Congress."